Investor Relations. What is it? An investor is a person who buys stock in a corporation, becomming a part-owner of the corporation. Your goal as head of investor relations at a company is to make sure your shareholders are as knowledgable of your organization as they can be. The happier an investor is with your company, the more they will invest in your company. So how do you inform your stakeholders about whats going on? Three ways are an annual report, a letter to shareholders from the CEO himself and a press release with your quarterly earnings.

So, now that you have a "background" in investor relations, how about we check out Best Buy's investor relations?

Best Buy's annual report is far from a slick marketing piece and much closer to an economical piece. They actually posted its annual SEC 10-K. It is for the fiscal year ended February 28, 2009 and was put out on April 29, 2009. The goal of the company's annual report definitely seems to be simple compliance. The annual report goes through the business, risks, legal proceedings, properties of Best Buy, all financial data, analyses and statements and then into the directors, executive officers and corporate governance. It is 169 pages of information about Best Buy, completely detatched from any relationship with the CEO.

The latest letter to Best Buy shareholders from the CEO was on the 2008 year. The central message that comes through in this letter is that Best Buy is succeeding in their goals of growth and employee standards. Investors will undoubetdly feel good when reading this letter and feel as though they should stay with Best Buy for the long haul.

It first talks about how the new products, stores and increased customer satisfaction as well as reduced employee turnover. Their financial improvements are also explained with the numbers to back up that their share has risen. Next, is Best Buys belief that they are enriching the lives on all of their customers by being the friend to help people enable their dreams of digital connectivity. Sound warm and fuzzy yet? Best Buy, is the friend that will lead their consumers into this exciting but challenging digital era. Best Buy stores in Canada and China have shown positive results.

Next, they speak about how they recognized customers desires and fulfilled them by providing the Geek Squad, in-home delivery, Magnolia Home Theater rooms and Best Buy Mobile, their newest project.

Best Buy then shares with their stakeholders their goals for the year 2009. They plan to open 140 new stores, launch their first stores and websites in Mexico and Turkey, improve website services, enhance Reward Zone programs in the U.S. and they project their increase in earnings per share for the next fiscal year.

The letter ends with the thing that will keep all shareholders feeling warm and fuzzy about Best Buy. The CEO invites shareholders to learn for themselves if Best Buy's strategy of customer centricity is working. He invites shareholders to spend time in the stores, engage in the services and interact with the call centers and websites so see first hand that they are accurately portraying increased satisfaction.

This makes the shareholders feel part of the company and wanted in the company which is exactly what this letter should be doing. The CEO, Bradbury Anderson, then closes with thanking shareholders directly for their support in the journey that Best Buy has begun.

The overall tone of this letter is glowing and informative. The entire letter speaks about how wonderful Best Buy is doing, how satisfied employees and customers are, how successful they have been globally and how they plan to continue all of these successes next year. I think that it is credible because the CEO provides the exact numbers to show the increase in diluted earnings per share and examples of how consumer and employee satisfaction has increased.

The last news release related to Best Buy's earnings was released on March 25, 2010. The fourth quarter ended on February 27, 2010. The release is not reader-friendly and is written in technical language. It is written in technical language throughout and is actually very long, about 3 or 4 pages.

Maybe they should try not to make the news release sound so technical!

Community Relations 101!

Helping out in the community is a good thing, right?

Best Buy certainly thinks so! Best Buy does all sorts of community relations activities to give back to the community.

There are many things Best Buy does to help us out in our own homes. Some of them are:
- Supporting national organizations like United Way and The Red Cross to help better the communities that their employees and customers live in and work in
- Best Buy emloyees volunteer in their communities, doing things like serving meals to the homeless, building homes, cleaning parks and mentoring children
- Best Buy employees also gather to raise much-needed funds at walks benefiting organizations such as the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, March for Dimes and more!

Best Buy also partners with organizations like the Boys and Girls Club of America, United Way and Mouse (Making Opportunities for Upgrading Schools & Education), among many others!

Does this seem like too much community service? Best Buy doesn't think so!

In addition to these community activies, Best Buy puts a lot of effort into their single focus. Best Buy's goal is to provide positive experiences that will help youth excel in school, engage in their communities and develop leadership skills. To help accomplish this goal, Best Buy developed "The Best Buy Children's Foundation".

Through their foundation, Best Buy supports programs that provide opportunities for youth. They select non-profit organizations that provide positive experiences to help teens to excel in school, their communities and emerge as leaders. They strengthen communities through national, regional and local grant making programs. Best Buy created a program that allows groups of people in different areas to decide how the foundation funds will be used in their own area! Pretty cool, huh?

Attention all teenagers!

Best Buy acknowledges that teens receive the least financial support by government, philanthropic and non-profit spending. So, Best Buy created @15 which is Best Buy’s teen-led social change platform. @15 is about giving teens opportunities to Live, Learn, Love, and Lead.

What @15 does is give teens a voice and a say in how they spend their dollars. This year, the @15 scholarship will be awarding $1,000 to 1,000 scholarship winners for undergraduate studies upon graduation.

As you can see, Best Buy’s main focus is teens. Yes, they do tons of other stuff with charities and local communities. Teens, though, are the future – and Best Buy knows it! Best Buy’s community relations program supports the mission of the company, because teens are our future and so is technology. Teens are the future consumer and the future users of all the products that Best Buy has to offer. Teens and technology go hand in hand, and Best Buy gets that.

This is great public relations for Best Buy. They are focusing on their key target market and key demographic – they’re future consumers and the future of this country. Everyone loves an organization dedicated to helping today’s youth, and Best Buy is doing a great job.

Best Buy mentions their other partners and charities and how their employees give back to their communities both locally and nationally. Something else the company could do is mention specific information on the website about a story of their community relations or a particular activity they are involved in. It is a little general because I know that Best Buy is doing tons to give back, and they should make sure it’s all known!

Go Best Buy and Go Teens!